UNDRR News

Maputo (Mozambique) and Overstrand Municipality (South Africa) are the latest local governments to join the World Disaster Reduction Campaign “Making Cities Resilient - My city is getting ready!” The signing ceremony took place yesterday at the campaign launch held by the United Nations secretariat for the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) with its partners UNHABITAT at the Planning Africa 2010 conference, in Durban, South Africa. > View full story

On 25 to 26 August, the UNISDR Regional Office for Africa is holding a pilot workshop on “Training of Trainers” in the Rift Valley Province to test a toolkit to “train trainers” in disaster risk reduction. “The outcome of this training will create a super highway for spreading hazard and disaster risk reduction information to local communities, thereby increasing their knowledgebase and consequently their resilience to natural disasters,” said Pedro Basabe, Head of the UNISDR Regional Office for Africa. Expected to attend are 30 Disaster Risk Reduction platform members from the provinces, and five regional participants from Burundi, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and Kenya. > View full story

The extended Africa Programme of Action for the Implementation of the Africa Regional Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction was adopted by African ministers. The ministers were among more than 280 participants from 42 African countries who gathered at the Second Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction that took place from 14 to 16 April 2010 at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi, Kenya in parallel to the First Ministerial Conference of Ministers Responsible for Meteorology in Africa . The ministers also adopted the Declaration of the Second Africa Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. > View full story

The African Union Commission, in collaboration with the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), is preparing for the Second African Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. The conference will take place on 14 to 16 April 2010, at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, in parallel to the First Conference of Ministers responsible for Meteorology in Africa.

The government of the United Republic of Tanzania hosted the 2010 Africa Environment Day celebrations in Arusha. The day, themed ‘Africa Resilience to Climate Change: Protecting Biodiversity and Enhancing Traditional Knowledge’, was commemorated on 3 and 4 March 2010.

The African Centre for Disaster Studies, supported by UNISDR, held a short course on Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation from 15 to 19 February at the North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus in South Africa.

ECOWAS and UNISDR regional office for Africa, with the support of the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), organized a three-day training workshop on mitigating disaster risk to improve the resilience of West African states against disasters. The training enabled government officials and disaster risk reduction practitioners to understand the role of hazard assessment, risk analysis and vulnerability mapping in reducing the impact of natural hazards as well as how ISDR partners can support their efforts at national and sub-regional levels in West Africa.

Rachel Shebesh, Member of Parliament of the Republic of Kenya and Chair of the African Parliamentarian Initiative for Climate Risk Reduction, was appointed today as the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction champion for disaster risk reduction in Africa during the launch of the Black and Green, Ready to Lead campaign that took place at the Pan-African Parliament in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The global event of the 2009 International Day for Disaster Reduction was staged at the Royal Marsden Hospital, which was severely damaged by a fire in early 2008. The meeting gathered more than 120 participants from all stakeholder groups and was hosted by the UK Health Protection Agency in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR). View full story Related links 2009 International Day for Disaster Reduction Programme of global event in London incl. slides of presentations Video recording of the London event Opening Remarks by Sir John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (delivered by Helena Molin Valdés, Deputy Director UNISDR)

The biannual campaign for ‘Hospitals safe from Disasters’ was widely promoted in Nairobi Kenya as part of the celebration of the 2009 International Day for Disaster Reduction. The event took place in the August 7th Memorial Park of Nairobi, the former site of the US Embassy that was bombed in 1998 which is also a public place to develop awareness. The event was organized by the Kenya Ministry of Special Programmes, Kenya Red Cross, St. John Ambulance, Medics 24 and hospitals in coordination with the Memorial Park administration, UNISDR, UNOCHA and WHO. Among the participants were civil society, universities, practitioners and public were present. View full story